How Far We've Come
by yachikins
Summary: Someone has to close the Doors of Death from inside Tartarus and Leo's the best man for the job. Inspired by viria's art


Leo watched as the rest of the group argued over just who would close the Doors from the inside. Percy had insisted that he should do it, but no one was willing to let him, he was too important to the quest they argued. This of course had led to the argument, nobody particularly wanted to be the one to close them, not that you could really blame them since closing them from the inside meant you'd be trapped in Tartarus, but at the same time no one wanted to make any of their friends be the one.

So far Leo hadn't joined in on the argument, instead he was doing something that tried not to do very often, he was thinking. The way Leo saw it there were compelling reasons for each of his friends not to be the one close the doors; Percy was too valuable to lose as was Jason, Annabeth's intelligence was too valuable an asset to the quest, Piper's ability to use charmspeak could provide them with too many advantages as did Hazel's ability to manipulate the mist and Frank's shapeshifting, and as for Nico? Well besides his creepy ability to disappear into the shadows, there was the fact that he'd already been through way too much, it would be cruel to ask him to do it.

Which led Leo to a conclusion that frightened but didn't really surprise him, there was only person who could sacrifice themselves without jeopardizing the quest, and it was him. It made perfect sense, especially when he remembered what Nemesis had said; he was the seventh wheel, the one who would never belong. Out of them all he was the only one who didn't bring anything vital to the quest; he could close the doors and condemn himself to Tartarus without affecting things much.

Taking a deep breath he stepped towards the doors, his movement unnoticed by his still arguing friends, and ignoring the part of his mind that screamed for him to stop, he stepped through them into Tartarus.

Turning around, he placed his hands on the doors, struggling to keep them from shaking "Now, now ladies" he called to his friends, "I know you all want to be Miss Tartarus, but arguing isn't going to make you win." At the sound of his voice Jason turned, his mouth open, but what ever he was planning to say seemed to slip his mind as he noticed just where Leo was standing.

"Leo, what are you doing?" He asked. The rest of the group turned to look, alerted by the hint of panic in Jason's voice. Leo shot them a crooked grin despite the fear that was clawing in his chest,

"Someone's got to close this door and you know me, I love being the hero." His jovial tone seemed inappropriate considering the seriousness of the situation and Percy couldn't help but glare at him.

"Quit joking around!" He snapped, "Why can't you be serious for once!" The smile fell from Leo's face and stared at Percy with an expression none of them had ever seen on him before.

"I am being serious" He said, and for once there was no humor in his voice. "Someone has to shut these doors and I'm the best person for the job." The statement seemed so un-Leo like that for a moment it left everyone speechless. Taking advantage of their silence Leo continued,

"Look, the rest of you are too important to the quest, but me, I'm the odd man out, you'll be fine without me. Besides I'm the only one who doesn't have someone who'll miss them." That wasn't quite true; there was a certain someone on an island who was waiting for his return but she was going to have to wait a little bit longer it seemed. "It's the only logical choice really."

"But who'll fly the Argo!" Piper protested, having finally found her voice. Leo shrugged,

"I'm sure Annabeth can do it, she's smart like that." He didn't mention that he'd left them detailed notes about how to run the ship in his room, he'd had a feeling before they left that he might not be coming back.

Before anyone else could voice their protests a soft voice spoke up,

"Let him do it." Jumping in the surprise, the group turned to stare at Nico, who had spoken.

"What!" Piper demanded, her face scrunching up in anger. "He's talking about shutting himself in Tartarus! How can you be okay with that? It's horrible in there!" Nico stared at her for a moment, his face expressionless,

"I know better then most just how horrible it is in there" he reminded them, "But Leo's made his decision and all we're doing by arguing is wasting valuable time." There wasn't really anything that anyone could say to argue with Nico's point no matter how much they wanted to and Leo shot him a grateful glance before throwing a grin onto his face.

"Well you heard him, times a wasting. So who's going to close the door from this side?"

Jason stared at his friend for a moment before stepping forward,

"I'll do it" he said, "but Leo, are you sure you want to do this? No one will judge you if you change your mind." Leo smiled sadly at him and for just a moment you could see in his eyes just how scared he was.

"I'm sure, this is the only choice." A pained look appeared on Jason's face for a moment before he sighed,

"Alright, I'm sure gonna miss you man. We all are, it won't be the same without you around." Leo just winked at him,

"You say that now, but just wait you'll be glad I'm not around to annoy anymore." Someone let out a choked sobbing noise and everyone's gaze turned towards Piper, who had tears starting to form in her eyes.

"How can you keep joking?" she whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "You're basically sentencing yourself you death."

For the second time that day Leo's expression turned serious.

"It's what I do" He could tell from everyone's expressions that they were confused as to what he meant but he didn't elaborate. After all, how would explain that every time he cracked a joke at an inappropriate time, every time he seemed to not take this as seriously as he should, it was just his way of hiding from all the pain and fear he felt.

"C'mon, let's get this done." He told Jason, who nodded reluctantly and grabbed hold of his side of the doors and began to pull.

As the doors slowly swung closed Leo offered once last smile at his friends, despite all the hardships the time they'd spent together was some of the best he'd ever had.

"Kick Gaia's butt for me, okay?" He told them, before giving one final push and slamming the doors shut with a loud thud. For a moment he just stood there, his hands still pressed against the door, then he slowly turned and slid to the ground before burying his head in his hands. It was done; there was no going back now.

He wasn't sure just how long he sat there, but it eventually occurred to him that he should get moving before any monsters found him. Just because he was stuck here didn't mean he wanted to get killed; besides he didn't have any plans to be stuck here forever. There were multiple ways to get into Tartarus, there had to be more then one way to get out and he was going to find it. He had an oath to keep after all.


End file.
